SE - A.B. McDonnell - July 1907 Founded Limuru Girls School in 1922.
EA Standard 9 Dec 1993 - 'The dawn of Limuru Girls Remembered' - ...... In his early days he used to ride a bicycle down to Nairobi to play soccer, and then bicycle back to Limuru again, about 20 miles uphill, to an altitude of 7,200 ft. On the way back he used to stop for a whisky, to help him cycle those last miles home. A.B. went to a forest station about 12 miles from their farm and acquired a team of oxen, and with these oxen he dragged logs for sleepers for the railway line.

In 1908 A.B. went to Mombasa to meet his future wife who had sailed out. The ships came into Kilindini harbour through the channel at Likoni, and passengers got in rowboats to go ashore. The ship arrived early in the morning and A.B. was the second person on board. He brought his bride-to-be ashore and was anxious to get the wedding over before she could change her mind. It is believed she wore her wedding attire, a gorgeous wedding dress and hat with ostrich feathers. They were stuck in Mombasa, with only rickshaws for transport. Despite losing a wheel, the rickshaw got them to the church on time. They eventually boarded a train and chugged to Limuru. There they should have got off and walked to a shack in the forest, but they politely said to the engine driver, "Couldn't you stop the train a few miles further up the line?" The driver replied, "No problem at all." The train was stopped 4 miles further up the line and they then only had one mile to walk. In 1909 Evelyn McDonell (now Mitchell) was born. Some years later, twin sisters, Mary (now Russell) and Edith (now Harvey) were born. A.B. tried to grow all sorts of crops. He tried maize, flax and coffee, but at that altitude coffee doesn't give a very good crop. In 1918, a friend of A.B.'s from India, sent him some tea seeds, and in planting those seeds, A.B. became one of the first people to grow tea in Kenya. In 1926, a Mr Brooke and a Mr Bond decided Limuru was a good area for growing tea, and built a tea factory. By 1926, A.B. was selling tea. The day the tea factory opened, he picked a grown leaf and gave his first contribution to the factory. He intended to carry on making his own tea which is what he did until 1962. 

In 1922, A.B. decided he better educate his daughters, and Limuru Girls School was formed, a Church of England girls' boarding school. A.B. went on to design and build a church just down the road, the graveyard of which is the resting place of the original Leakey family, including Louis Leakey. (The famous anthropologist and archaeologist). Life at Limuru Girls School was disciplined and structured. We wore brown tunics over cream blouses, and white ankle socks inside strong brown shoes. On Sundays we wore limp, turquoise Sunday dresses. We filed into the dining room in an orderly fashion to stand behind our chairs until grace had been said, and likewise after meals." 
Verandah - Mr McDonell played the cello.